Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Our time in Guanajuato (1 of 3) The City

The house where Diego Rivera was born, now a museum containing many of his early, experimental works from when he was an art student in Europe.

The singers who lead large groups of (intoxicated) revellers around the city's many winding, narrow alleys.

Teatro Juarez

Iglesia de San Francisco

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato

Museo del Pueblo

El Callejón del Beso (Alley of the Kiss)- Famous because the only contact two young lovers from feuding families were able to have was from leaning across the extremely narrow alleyway from their balconies and kissing... or something. We have mailed you all souvenir Callejon del Beso teaspoons and t-shirts.

Alhondiga de Granaditas-This building is a former granary which played an important part in the Mexican war for independence. The Spaniards barricaded themselves inside this building for protection against the rebels butel Pípilawas able to crawl under the large wooden door and light it on fire, allowing the rebels to storm the building and win this particular battle. However, this was early in the war and four of the revolutionary leaders were later executed and their heads hung from hooks on the four corners of the building as a 'deterant' to any other would-be revolutionists. The heads remained there for 10 years until Mexico achieved independence in 1821. Today it is a museum, and great backdrop for outdoor concerts.

One of the hooks

A monument to the revolutionary hero El Pípila which overlooks Guanajuato

Guanajuato is a Unesco World Heritage site and as a result no new building has taken place since the 1980's. This also means that there are no neon or traffic lights in the entire city, just traffic cops with whistles. Because the colonial streets are quite narrow (almost all one-way roads) much of the traffic is hidden under the city in tunnels (also one-way), some of which used to be mines. In the rainy season some of these tunnels carry the rising river under the city to avoid flooding.

Aqueduct/ Museo Olga Costa Jose Chavez Morado

Trip to Cristo Rey (zoom way in to our google map to see the spirally route)

Guanajuato's Cristo Rey del Cubilete is the world's fourth (2nd according to our four year old guide book) largest representation of Jesus after Brazil's Cristo Redentor.

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Welcome to our travel blog. Our amazing trip through Latin America came to an end in December 2009 and we are currently living in Australia. However, we will continue to publish posts every few days until we are caught up.

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Our route

View Josh and Laura´s Journey in a larger map
An interactive map of our route to date. Our Google map account seems to be a little overloaded now so to see our entire route click "View Josh and Laura's Journey in a larger map." You may alternatively click and drag this mini map to see where we are now. While our photos are typically months behind we tend to keep the map relatively current.
Blue lines are by bus or carRed lines are by boatGreen lines are by foot or bikeOrange lines are by trainPurple lines are by planePlacemarkers represent places where we have spent at least one night.